


Gifts

by Eikaron



Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon-Compliant, Gen, Qrow being an Uncle (TM) to all of his kids, Technically the others were there too but Nora has one line and it's 'Snacks', Volume 6 (RWBY), Volume 7 (RWBY), just a little moment Qrow has after they arrive in Atlas, set during V7 with flashback to V6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:09:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27300007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eikaron/pseuds/Eikaron
Summary: After they arrive in Atlas Qrow realises he has forgotten about something very important
Relationships: Qrow Branwen & Kids, Qrow Branwen & Weiss Schnee
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	Gifts

**Author's Note:**

> Originally I was going to put this as a story/flashback in one of my twelve dozen other unfinished fics but since it didn't really fit anywhere and can stand well on it's own...*shrug* It's still Qrowtober and I think we can all use something sweet right now :)

When Qrow was finally, gratefully shown to his 'room' – which turned out to actually be two rooms, a bathroom and a kitchenette and more of an apartment, really – he was bone-tired and ready to sleep for a week.

Nevertheless he forced himself to take a shower and unpack his bag, if only to distract his shaking fingers. It didn't take long at any rate. His belongings hardly ever consisted of much more than a toothbrush and some spare clothes.

A toothbrush, some spare clothes and... a blue cardboard box, apparently. Qrow stared at the small item with utter bewilderment for a few seconds until he remembered what it was.

Of course. Weiss' gift for Winter. Bought at the train station in Mistral. Qrow had all but forgotten about it, but honestly who could blame him with everything that had happened in the meantime?

°°°°°

“ _Alright, kids, everyone get yourself some snacks for the train”, said Qrow, smiling to himself as he watched them swarm into the depths of the train station shop like a horde of Sabyrs to a roar of “SNACKS!” from Nora_

_Someone cleared his throat beside him. He turned his head to see his younger niece looking at him with folded hands and puppy eyes._

“ _Uncle Qrow~”, she began sweetly._

_Qrow rolled his eyes and said: “Yes, you can get a comic book for the ride, Ruby._ One _.”_

“ _Yes!”, said Ruby, pumped her fist and sped off between the shelves; the words “ThanksUncleQrowIloveyouyou'rethebest”, echoing behind her._

_Qrow snorted. Kids. Honestly. Almost seventeen years old and still begging her uncle to buy her a comic book for the train ride, he thought with a lot more fondness than he cared to admit, shaking his head at the rose petals drifting slowly to the floor in front of him. Then he made a beeline for the Whiskey to refill his stock._

_Bottle in hand Qrow went on to browse the magazines, the selection of which unfortunately turned out to be quite poor. There wasn't much that interested him other than a few of the more adult magazines. Qrow did not want to buy those while he was travelling with the kids, although he did flick through some of them while he was waiting for the others to finish their purchases. Bemoaning, not for the first time, the fact that there never seemed to be anything made with the discerning bisexual in mind. Was it really too much to ask, he wondered, to only have to buy_ one  _magazine instead of several_ ?  _Probably for the money, he thought grumpily. You could – in theory – sell more that way. Qrow could understand the logic behind this, but found it annoying nevertheless. And who knew if it even held up economically. Truth to be told, he usually merely alternated which magazine he was buying and the lack of which he was annoyed about. There was definitely an untapped market there, he mused, even if it was small. In his opinion, if a publisher were to start making a good all-in-one swimsuit magazine or something of the sort, they would soon swim in money. In Qrow's, at least._

_In the row behind him, Yang and Blake were bickering about whether or not to buy bell pepper chips. Apparently neither Ren nor Ruby liked them, which was news to Qrow. He filed it away for later reference._

“ _What are you looking at, Weiss?”, Yang asked suddenly._

_Something about her tone made Qrow's attention immediately focus on the conversation; feeling mildly guilty about it. Sometimes he did not like how much eavesdropping had become second nature to him. But on the other hand a conversation overheard in a busy story hardly counted as private, let alone secret._

“ _You want to buy one of those figurines?”_

_They had to be looking at the glass case with the tiny Sneak (c) Grimm figurines he had seen it in passing before, Qrow surmised. From what he recalled it was_ the _brand for collectibles – high quality and even higher expense. Yang and Ruby had a few of their own back home; begged off Tai and him for birthdays and special outings._

“ _Winter used to buy me one of those whenever she came to visit”, explained Weiss in an uncharacteristically soft voice. “Back when she still went to Beacon. She mostly only came home for the Solstice celebrations. It was always a special occasion.”_

“ _That's really nice of her”, said Blake. “It must have meant a lot to you. Do you still have them?”_

_Weiss sighed._

“ _To be honest: I'm not sure”, she said. “I had to leave them behind when I left Atlas. I don't know if Father kept them. I do hope he didn't throw them out, but... ”_

_Weiss left the sentence unfinished. The others didn't say anything, but Qrow imagined that they were looking understandingly at her, maybe squeezing a shoulder or pulling her into a hug. Yang had grown so much in that regard, he thought, remembering the reckless and hot-headed young girl she had been; blunt to the point of abrasive, always butting heads with someone. She was more thoughtful now, more attuned to the mood. Not necessarily kinder – she had always been that – but more level-headed. Thinking before she acted. He smiled to himself._

“ _I was just thinking I could buy one for Winter”, said Weiss. “As... I don't know, a return gift I suppose.”_

“ _I bet she would love that!”, said Yang._

“ _How about the Queen Lancer?”, Blake proposed. “You beat it when you left Atlas and now you can summon it. That would be a fitting choice, wouldn't it?”_

_Her voice had moved position slightly, suggesting to Qrow that she was standing in front of the case now, pointing at the figurine in question._

“ _It would”, agreed Weiss. Then she sighed. “But... I really don't have the money for this sort of thing at the moment.”_

“ _Oh”, said Yang disappointedly. “Yeah. I guess they are kind of expensive.”_

“ _Maybe we could all pitch in?”, Blake offered. “I have some money left over._

“ _Yeah, me too”, said Yang. “And I'm sure the others would too. Although Ruby might have spent all her money on sweets”, she laughed._

“ _I can't ask you all to do that”, said Weiss, aghast. “We still need to get to Atlas. Honestly, it's bad enough that we're spending so much money on chips and soda, but at least we're eating those.”_

“ _Guess we'll just have to buy fewer chips then”, said Yang drily. “It's alright, Weiss. I mean, yeah, it's expensive, but not that_ _much. We can afford it.”_

_But Weiss had already made her decision._

“ _No. I... Look, I appreciate your offer”, she said soothingly, “I really do. But – and I can't believe it's me saying that”, she added in a moment of self-deprecating humour, “It would be a waste of money. We might really need it for something else and I know Winter will be happy to see me whether or not I bring her a gift. It doesn't matter.”_

_Even though Weiss wanted nothing more than do just that and it mattered to her. Qrow knew the longing in her voice all too well._

“ _Well, if you're sure about it”, said Yang uncertainly. “But if you change your mind, you let us know, okay? It's alright if you want to buy it.”_

“ _I'm sure”, said Weiss. “But thank you anyway.”_

_The gratitude was sincere, if nothing else was._

“ _You only need to ask, Weiss”, said Blake. “We're your friends.”_

“ _I know”, said Weiss. “Now. Bell pepper chips: Yes or no?”_

_Qrow knew the forced cheerfulness all too well, too._

_°°°°°_

Weiss had not bought the figurine. She really had come a long way from the spoiled princess she had once been.

And so Qrow had gone back later under the guise of having forgotten something and picked out the Queen Lancer and asked the nice lady at the counter if she could put it in some extra wrapping because it was a gift for someone and he was 'such a klutz' and was afraid it would break.

He had meant to give it to Weiss on the train, except then the train had been derailed, followed by his entire life's purpose and they had almost died several times over and by the time they reached Argus the Queen Lancer had slipped his mind entirely. Qrow was sure he would have remembered eventually, or found it like he had now, but there had just never been a quiet moment.

Well. They were all safe now. He'd give it to Weiss tomorrow.

Qrow placed the box carefully on the coffee table where he would see it first thing in the morning. He looked at it one last time, smiling to himself as he imagined Weiss reaction.

Then he went to bed.


End file.
